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Life Support

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 15, age appropriate for kids over 16; suggested age 15.

  • Is it any good?

    4.0

  • Common Sense says

    HIV and drug drama gritty teen-parent viewing.

Why We Rated This iffy for Ages 15–16

The good stuff

  • Messages:

    Ana works hard to redeem herself after a young life of drug use and manipulating her family. Her family doesn't forgive her. Family members express anger at having been seriously hurt by their drug-addicted family members. Amare's sister Tanya lets him be homeless. Tanya talks about stealing baby supplies at age 13 to take care of Amare when her parents were too high to do it.
 

What to watch out for

  • Violence:

    A main character dies (off-screen) from complications of HIV. Ana talks about wanting to kill herself and her boyfriend after finding out her HIV status. A man shoots and kills his wife, presumably after he finds out her HIV status. Michael threatens to have Ana killed.

  • Sex:

    Lots of talk about sex and contracting HIV, including images of female condoms, talk about rolling a condom on with one's mouth, and talk about dental dams. Ana and Slick kiss and it's implied that they had sex. Amare talks about having different boyfriends. Ana hands out condoms to her daughter's boyfriend. Lots of talk about reasons women don't ask their boyfriends or husbands to wear a condom. Ana visits a gay club and shows the "down low" lifestyle of black men who are in the closet, living with wives and children while having sex with men.

  • Language:

    Considerable swearing, including "ass," "bulls--t," "s--t," "f--k," "bitch-ass," "hell," "dammit," "asshole," and the "N" word.

  • Consumerism:

    Everyone drinks Dasani water and women talk about and show Reality Female Condoms.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Lots of talk about previous drug use -- injecting heroin and cocaine, as well as smoking crack -- and its effect on people's lives. Amare smokes cigarettes. Amare sells his HIV anti-wasting drugs to make money to buy drugs.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Life Support

Parents need to know that this movie deals in a realistic way with the effect of drug addiction and HIV diagnosis. As such, teenager Amare manipulates friends, steals from people who take care of him, and sells his HIV medications to make money for drugs. There are several scenes of him passed out and very ill from living on the street and the effects of HIV. A main character dies from the disease by the end of the movie. There's also considerable graphic discussion of drug addiction and how it destroys families, as well as discussions of sex and condom use.

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Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about a number of tough topics here including safe sex and drug addiction. Do you know anyone who has a drug addict in his or her family? How has it affected them? Are they angry like Ana's and Amare's families? How is the depiction of the HIV epidemic different in this movie than in others, like Philadelphia? What are the differences between how Andy Beckett deals with his HIV status and how Ana deals with it?
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